Gretna squeeze past Tynecastle

Raydalers progress on penalties

Gretna survived a scare to advance in the King Cup on Saturday after a penalty shoot out win over Tynecastle.

The opposing goalkeeper, Paul Cadger, defied bulk, age and gravity with an aerobatics display, throwing himself around the goal mouth like a sky blue killer whale catching fish.

East of Scotland League side Tynecastle kicked off into a fierce wind.

However,
the wind at their backs proved to be more of a hindrance than a help to
Gretna as time and again it carried balls tantalisingly beyond the stretch of Adam McMath and Paddy Flannery.

The
game was commanded by the centre backs, predominantly Gavin McCarthy for Tynie and Nikki White for Gretna. Nikki had one of his best games for Gretna, breaking up a number of Tynecastle offensives with sheer physicality.

There were chances at both ends in the early exchanges but as to be expected in the
conditions, it was Gretna who held the balance of play.

Forty
minutes had gone, though, before the first goal was scored. The ball was somehow propelled past Cadger and frantically cleared by Ryan Ferguson only for referee David Roome to adjudge that the ball had crossed the line.

The wind had not abated for the second half but it was Gretna who struck first. A
quarter of an hour into the restart, Brandon Longcake teed up a shot for Paddy Flannery to open his account for Gretna.

Fittingly
it was Gavin McCarthy who got on the end of a corner kick in a crowded goal mouth to start the fight back for the Edinburgh side.

Shortly afterwards Adam Main received a yellow for a mistimed tackle on
Finlay Mathews which sounded a lot worse than it fortunately proved to be. Lewis Todd came on for Michael Brown in the 64th minute.

In the 67th minute, with the Gretna fans shouting for handball, Ousman See put the ball past Wright for the equaliser.

In the 71st minute, the green boots returned, the Lockerbie legend Joseph Slattery replacing McMath. Like Toddy before him he brought skill, energy and endeavour to a hitherto dull game.

David Renyard was shown a yellow card in the 75th minute. Sam Atkinson got another 10 minutes later.

As
the fans started to half hope for and half dread extra time, Cadger was
back to catching fish, clutching balls off Slattery’s head and off Main’s boot.

Extra time was less than a minute old when Steven Rudd was dismissed for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

A mere five minutes after Ruddy’s departure, a similar incident at the other end resulted in only a yellow card for McCarthy.

Greg
Thorburn was eventually persuaded to replace Alan Inglis who was suffering from cramp. When Tynecastle brought on Michael Costello for Ryan Ferguson the general opinion was that they were bringing on penalty
takers.

Nikki White was another to get a yellow, his heartfelt protests having the usual effect.

As
extra time drew inexorably to its conclusion both sides spurned chances
to snatch victory. Ousman See shot past Wright’s right hand post and minutes later Flannery replicated the feat. So, it was down to penalties.

Jamie Butler stepped up for Tynecastle. A prodigious roar from Wrighty unsettled him enough that he hammered the ball against the cross bar. Joseph Slattery made no mistake with his shot to put Gretna ahead 0-1.

Graham
Wright did even better to save from Ousman See. Brandon Longcake powered home his attempt to make it 0-2. Kyle Fee spared Tynecastle’s blushes somewhat, converting their third attempt to bring it to 1-2.

Paddy
Flannery was not in a charitable mood, however and made it 1-3. Fighting a rearguard action by now Jamie Devlin brought it back to 2-3 before David Renyard put things beyond the Edinburgh lads making it 2-4.